The present invention relates to monitoring and recording systems and, more particularly, to such systems for monitoring and recording parameters of a vehicle.
Regulated trucks operating in interstate commerce are required by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Interstate Commerce Commission to maintain trip records for each trip made by such a vehicle. A trip record includes such identifying information as the owner or lessee of the truck, the driver's name, truck and trailer numbers, starting date and location and the ending date and location. The driver of the truck is required to insert on the report operational data such as: the beginning odometer reading, the originating State and date, the States subsequently entered and the date of entry and the odometer reading entry into that State. Also the number of gallons of fuel purchased in each State on the trip is recorded by the driver on the trip record. The keeping of trip cards by a driver is, of course, a time-consuming and hence expensive procedure. It is often difficult for the driver to enter the odometer reading as he leaves one State and enters another, or the driver may forget to make an entry. This then necessitates that the odometer reading at the State line be estimated.
Maintaining accurate records of miles travelled in a State and fuel consumed in a State is important from another standpoint. If a State imposes a use tax on fuel consumed in that State, the truck operator may be entitled to a tax rebate if more fuel is purchased in a State than actually consumed. In order to justify such a rebate, however, accurate records will normally be required by the State taxing authority. It would thus become desirable to maintain a record of the actual fuel consumed in a given State rather than merely the amount of fuel purchased within that State.
In view of the foregoing, it would be highly desirable to provide a system on board a regulated vehicle which would permit the monitoring and recording of operation parameters, such as, States operated in, time, mileage and fuel purchased in that State, with the monitoring and recording being accomplished with minimal driver involvement. The recording could then be used for providing a printout of the information required on a trip record. For tax reasons it would also be useful to monitor and record other parameters such as the amount of fuel actually consumed in a State.